Adjustable Removable Decorative Band

ABSTRACT

A fabric element which can be formed or shaped into a generally tubular configuration around a strap, band, or another component of another object, and temporarily and adjustably fastened thereto. The fabric element is generally quadrilateral with a fastening means attached thereto. The fastening means may be adjustable to allow the fabric element to be attached to objects of various size.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

This disclosure pertains to the field of décor, and more particularly toapparatus and methods for customizing the décor of an object.

Description of the Related Art

In a world of ever-increasing diversity of interests, more than everpeople identify themselves by brand affiliation. Such brands run thegamut from sports teams to apparel to political candidates toeducational institutions, and everything in between. One study estimatesthat in 2014, retail sales of licensed professional sports productsreached almost $13 billion dollars, including almost $700 milliondollars in royalty revenue to professional sports leagues.

Although it is now possible to find many products for sale with one'spreferred sports teams or other affiliations branded thereon, it is notalways possible to find the specific product one desires. Further, theremay be instances where a fan would like to use or carry branded productsonly temporarily, and fans may want to add branding to products theyalready own. Brand owners also often enter into exclusive licensingdeals with certain manufacturers or distributors, resulting in a certaincategory of products (such as, for example, backpacks) with desiredbranding being sold by only one company. If a user prefers analternative product, there is no way to acquire the alternative with thedesired branding.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following is a summary of the invention in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some of its aspects. This summary is not intended toidentify key or critical elements of the invention or to delineate thescope of the invention. The sole purpose of this section is to presentsome concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to themore detailed description that is presented later.

Because of these and other problems in the art, described herein, amongother things, is a fabric element for applying branding to an objectcomprising: a piece of fabric in a polygonal configuration comprising aback side and an opposing front side and having a first edge and anopposing second edge, the front side having a decorative elementdisposed thereon; and a fastening means comprising a first fasteningmeans element and a second fastening means element, the first fasteningmeans element disposed on the front side at the first edge and thesecond fastening means element disposed on the back side at the secondedge.

In an embodiment, the polygonal configuration is a quadrilateral.

In another embodiment, the quadrilateral is a rectangle.

In another embodiment, the rectangle is a square.

In another embodiment, the fastening means is a hook-and-loop fastener.

In another embodiment, the hook-and-loop system comprises more than 10%of the width of the fabric element.

In another embodiment, the hook-and-loop system comprises more than 20%of the width of the fabric element.

In another embodiment, the hook-and-loop system comprises more than 30%of the width of the fabric element.

Also described herein, among other things, is a method for decorating anobject comprising: providing a piece of fabric comprising a back sideand an opposing front side, the front side having a decorative elementdisposed thereon, and a fastening means; placing the piece of fabricaround an object to which it is to be attached, the back side facing theobject and the front side facing outward from the object; fastening thefastening means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 provide a schematic view of a front, back, andassembled elevation of a decorative band according to the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 provide an alternative embodiment of a decorative bandaccording to the present disclosure.

FIGS. 7 and 8 depict an embodiment of a decorated band according to thepresent disclosure disposed in fastened configuration on another object.

FIG. 9 depicts an embodiment of a method of temporarily attaching abranding element to an object according to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

The following detailed description and disclosure illustrates by way ofexample and not by way of limitation. This description will clearlyenable one skilled in the art to make and use the disclosed systems andmethods, and describes several embodiments, adaptations, variations,alternatives and uses of the disclosed systems and methods. As variouschanges could be made in the above constructions without departing fromthe scope of the disclosures, it is intended that all matter containedin the description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Generally, described herein is a decorative band (100) which can beformed or shaped around a strap, band, or other component of anotherobject, and temporarily and adjustably fastened thereto. The band (100)has two basic configurations. “Unfolded” configuration, depicted inFIGS. 1-2 and 4-5, is a configuration in which the decorative band (100)has not been folded or manipulated to operating the fastening means.“Folded” or “fastened” configuration, depicted in FIGS. 3 and 6-8, is aconfiguration in which the opposing first and second edges (101) and(105) are placed in proximity to another so that the fastening meanselements (104) and (106) disposed on each may be operating the fastenthe decorative band (100) into a hollow tubular configuration. Formingthe decorative band (100) in this fashion causes the decorative band(100) to form two opposing openings (108) and (110) providing access tothe hollow interior defined by the back side (103).

FIGS. 1-3 depict various views of an embodiment of a decorative band(100) according to the present disclosure. In the depicted embodiment,the decorative band (100) is generally in the configuration of aquadrilateral; in this case, a square or rectangle. The decorative band(100) includes a fastening means (104) and (106), and has a front (102)and opposing back (103) side. Attached to the front side (102) at afirst edge (101) is a first fastening means element (104). Acorresponding second fastening means element (106) is attached to asecond edge (105) on the back side (103).

The front side (102), as used herein, generally means the side of thedecorative band (100) most clearly visible when decorative band (100) isin fastened configuration (e.g., the “outside” of the fastenedconfiguration formed). The front side (102) generally comprises thedecorative elements (112) desired by the user. The decorative element(112) may comprise a logo, image, graphic, design, pattern, word,phrase, symbol, and/or similar content, and occupy some or substantiallyall of the front side (102).

In the depicted embodiment, the fastening means (104) and (106)comprises a hook-and-loop system, such as Velcro™, but the fasteningmeans (104) and (106) may alternatively comprise, among other things:buttons, hooks, buckles, zippers, strings/laces, snaps, clips, and/orone or more of these in combination. Most fastening means (104) and(106) have two elements, a first fastening means element (104) and acorresponding second fastening means element (106), which interact toperform the fastening function. The depicted first fastening meanselement (104) is generally disposed at the first edge (101) on the frontside (102) and the corresponding second fastening means element (106) isgenerally disposed at the second edge (105) on the back side (102).However, alternative fastening means may be installed differently. Forexample, in an embodiment where the fastening means includes a button,the button may be disposed on the front side and pass through holesthrough the fabric, which exist on both sides.

These fastening means are well-known in the art and one of ordinaryskill will have no difficulty in understanding how they may be used inthe context of the present disclosure. The fastening means is affixed tothe decorative band (100) through means generally known in the art, suchas, without limitation, by stitching, adhesive, or both. However, thespecific manner of attaching the fastening means will vary depending onthe particular fastening means used in a given embodiment. By way ofexample and not limitation, a button hole is “attached” by forming ahole in the fabric shape (100).

The decorative band (100) may be made out of any suitable materialincluding, but not necessarily limited to: canvas, nylon, Cordura™nylon, rip-stop nylon, polyester, Kevlar™, pack cloth nylon, leather,polyvinyl chloride (“PVC”) fabric, thermoplastic polyethylene fiber(e.g., Dyneema™ and Spectram™), or any other material now known or inthe future developed suitable for such use. The configuration of thedepicted decorative band (100) is square, but other configurations arepossible and specifically contemplated, as any number of shapes may beconfigured into the encompassing or enveloping configuration depicted inFIG. 1C. As would be clearly evident to one of ordinary skill, theconfiguration of the encompassing shape (i.e. when folded) will dependon the configuration of the decorative band (100). That is, a squareattached at opposing ends forms a tube, but a circle or hexagon may forma different shape.

As depicted in FIG. 9, the decorative band (100) is generally used byplacing it around an object (201) to which it is to be attached (401),with the back side (103) facing the object (201) and the front side(102) facing outward from the object (201). The decorative band (100) isthen wrapped around (403) the object (201) and the fastening means (104)and (106) is operated (405) to attach the decorative band (100) to theobject (201).

The size and configuration of the fastening means will vary fromembodiment to embodiment and is generally configured to facilitate anadjustability feature that allows the size of the opening (108) to varyfrom use to use. By way of example and not limitation, in the depictedembodiment of FIGS. 1-3 and 4-6, using a hook-and-loop fastening means,the size of the hook and loop elements (104) and (106) may be larger,allowing the user to attach the hook and loop elements together (104)and (106) in a wider variety of configurations that alter the size ofthe openings (108) and (110). This is done by varying how much thefastening means elements (104) and 106) overlap. In the fastening step(405) of FIG. 4, the user will select a fastening configuration thatcauses the size of the openings (108) and (110) to conform to the sizeof the object (201) to which the decorative band (100) is attached,subject also to individual user preferences about the snugness of thefit. FIGS. 7 and 8 depict various embodiments of the decorative band(100) disposed on another object (201).

While the invention has been disclosed in connection with certainpreferred embodiments, this should not be taken as a limitation to allof the provided details. Modifications and variations of the describedembodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention, and other embodiments should be understood to beencompassed in the present disclosure as would be understood by those ofordinary skill in the art.

1. A fabric element for applying branding to an object comprising: apiece of fabric in a polygonal configuration comprising a back side andan opposing front side and having a first edge and an opposing secondedge, said front side having a decorative element disposed thereon; anda fastening means comprising a first fastening means element and asecond fastening means element, said first fastening means elementdisposed on said front side at said first edge and said second fasteningmeans element disposed on said back side at said second edge.
 2. Thefabric element of claim 1, wherein said polygonal configuration is aquadrilateral.
 3. The fabric element of claim 2, wherein saidquadrilateral is a rectangle.
 4. The fabric element of claim 3, whereinsaid rectangle is a square.
 5. The fabric element of claim 1, whereinsaid fastening means is a hook-and-loop fastener.
 6. The fabric elementof claim 5, wherein said hook-and-loop system comprises more than 10% ofthe width of said fabric element.
 7. The fabric element of claim 5,wherein said hook-and-loop system comprises more than 20% of the widthof said fabric element.
 8. The fabric element of claim 5, wherein saidhook-and-loop system comprises more than 30% of the width of said fabricelement.
 9. A method for decorating an object comprising: providing apiece of fabric comprising a back side and an opposing front side, saidfront side having a decorative element disposed thereon, and a fasteningmeans; placing the piece of fabric around an object to which it is to beattached, the back side facing the object and the front side facingoutward from the object; fastening the fastening means.